Network security management is becoming a more difficult problem as networks grow in size and become a more integral part of organizational operations. Attacks on networks are growing both due to the intellectual challenge such attacks represent for hackers and due to the increasing payoff for the serious attacker. Furthermore, the attacks are growing beyond the current capability of security management tools to identify and quickly respond to those attacks. As various attack methods are tried and ultimately repulsed, the attackers will attempt new approaches with more subtle attack features. Thus, maintaining network security is on-going, ever changing, and an increasingly complex problem.
Computer network attacks can take many forms and any one attack may include many security events of different types. Security events are anomalous network conditions each of which may cause an anti-security effect to a computer network. Security events include stealing confidential or private information; producing network damage through mechanisms such as viruses, worms, or Trojan horses; overwhelming the network's capability in order to cause denial of service, and so forth.
Network security risk-assessment tools, i.e. “scanners,” may be used by a network manager to simulate an attack against computer systems via a remote connection. Such scanners can probe for network weaknesses by simulating certain types of security events that make up an attack. Such tools can also test user passwords for suitability and security. Moreover, scanners can search for known types of security events in the form of malicious programs such as viruses, worms, and Trojan horses.
Some vulnerabilities are considered to be “local” since they are exploited by a local user, rather than a remote attacker. Because these local vulnerabilities require local access or authenticated remote access to the computer system, traditional network security scanners are unfortunately unable to determine whether these local systems are at risk to local threats.
Because local attacks make up a significant percentage of computer crime reported to law enforcement, the inability of automated network scanners to detect these threats presents a serious obstacle to maintaining computer security.
There is thus a need to provide a technique of detecting local threats with a network-based risk-assessment tool.